These past few months have been pure chaos. Once my parents announced that they were moving, I was partially scared. Jared had been wanting me to move in with him for a while, but I was able to have excuses to turn the idea down. I no longer had an excuse, so he was pressuring me to move in with him.
If people could hear my thoughts, they may wonder why I'm with a guy like Jared. I'm surrounded by amazing couples like my parents and Ben and Grace, and Jared isn't like any of them. They would only see the way he pressures me to do or not to do things, the way he snoops through my things, or the way he gets mad when I don't listen to him. What they don't know is the reason why he does these things. I used to be a bit of a liar and partied with friends a few times in high school, so he looks through my messages and searches all of my items because he wants to make sure I'm doing good and not lying to him. He loves me and wants to protect me, so he does pretty much everything in his life to help me and assure me that he will protect me from things that I don't even realize are bad until after it's revealed.
As much as he is looking out for me, it's tiring to be around it all the time. He won't even let me go against his judgment, so it's almost as if I have no voice. At least if I'm not living with him, I can have time to myself where I don't have to think about the consequences of who I talk to or whatever else I do with my life. Imagine my surprise that he was mad when I decided to accept my siblings' offer and move into their spare room. He'd learned to deal with it, and I was actually glad to have more space away from him.
Originally, I was to move into Angelina's old room once she moved in with Pete, but plans changed. Pete died, so she couldn't leave. At first, I was a bit sad since I have to share my family with not only my friend, but her baby. Now, Angelina and I get along just like old times. After her apology to me for infiltrating my family, we started to bond again and became just as close of friends as in high school. The awkwardness at family dinners after I moved here has completely disappeared, and we're just like we were before, but just with 2 new people. Eden has truly been a blessing to the Stone family. Ben and Grace are her godparents, but Angelina is letting them take on more of a parent roll as the baby grows, and I think adoption was brought up for the future when Eden is older. Angelina still handles all of the usual baby care necessities, but she's letting Ben and Grace bond with her and we all think of her as a Stone at this point. It's very nice of Angelina considering their loss of Bonnie and her want to give Eden the best life possible, but it also means that she will eventually give Eden up. Even through the struggles, Eden is the niece I never knew I needed.
Anyways, Cal had started not feeling great, so the whole house became in disarray. Ben never told me what was going on, but he started going to doctors. I think he didn't want to worry me. The whole time, I felt stuck between 2 worlds. My family's world where I can't help take care of Cal anymore, he's sick, and the other adults are dealing with him and baby Eden. It leaves Olive and I on the outs, and it's not too fun when the only thing you can do during the day is take care of an almost 5-year-old who is starting to wonder why her parents aren't playing with her as much as they always did. The other world is my boyfriend's where it's the exact opposite. It's just me and him, and most of my day is spent with him since I got fired from my most recent dead-end job. Living with my family became too much once Cal started going to lots of doctors and getting tests all the time, so I moved in with Jared. Angelina tried to stop me, but she could never understand what I was going through being in the middle of all this stuff.
I knew I didn't want to spend all day at home with Jared, so I decided to take a leap of faith. I always wanted to help people, and I want to spend tons of time away from home. One time, in high school, I took a quiz since I didn't know what I wanted to do as a career. It told me that I should serve in the military. Back then I shrugged it off, but now I find myself about to leave for basic training tomorrow. I never thought I'd do this, but I have no choice. This is my way to stay out of the chaos and still keep my relationships. Sure, I may get hurt, but I may have the funnest time of my life. I may find something that I actually want to do, and get the added bonus of discounts at some restaurants.
Is it bad that I'm actually excited for this? It's scary and dangerous, but I will finally have a career and will be able to live a little.
Tonight was my last family dinner before I left. Ben and Grace seemed stressed, but happy that I'm finally doing something with my life. In the middle, Grace got a phone call and grabbed Ben to take the call in the other room. Things seemed somewhat normal, but after a few minutes Angelina stopped feeding Eden, got up from her chair, and headed to the bathroom to check on Ben and Grace. Eden started crying, so Angelina went back to the table to keep feeding her. Turns out, Eden wasn't the only one crying. Grace and Ben are in tears. I immediately stand up and ask, "What's wrong?" Ben tried to shoo me off but I insisted that they tell me.
Cal has cancer. More specifically: leukemia. Calvin Stone, my first and only nephew, who I keep trying to bond with, is having to fight for his life while I get ready to fight for our country. I am terrified for Cal, but my life can't stop. I'm in too deep now with the life I'm starting to build. Cal will be ok; he has to be. At least I have the knowledge that Cal is a fighter to calm me as I get on that plane tomorrow. It's a lot to process, but I know that all things work together for good. I have faith that a miracle will arrive and cure Cal. I have faith.
Sorry for the lack of Mick's POV recently. There is a reason for it, I promise, but she'll have a lot more to her story as she takes this adventure on her own. Thank you always for the support!
-Lura